Improvement in stays for ships  sails



Patented Oct. 14,1873'.

im rief?? 6em an.

STATES CHARLES FREEMAN, )F BREVVSTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT iN STAVS FOR SHIPS' sAlLs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 143,568, dated October14, 1873; applicaticn filed August 27, 1873.

scribed in the following specification and represented intheaccompanying drawings, of which- Figure l denotes a perspectiveelevation or `view of a brig having its courses and square sailsprovided with my invention, which consists in the combination of a stayand a system of hanks or running-eyes with the square sail and deck ormast of avessel; also, in the combination. of the stay, the system ofrunningeyes, a traveler, and sail, or a system of eyebolts, with thesquare sailand deck and mast of |a vessel; also, the sail as providedwith a slit extending partially or wholly down its middle om its top,one or more removable hanks formed and applied to the slit, ashereinafter set forth. The main purpose of my invention is to supportthe sail along its middle, and

' particularly at the lower edge or bolt-rope of it, especially whileeither of the lower corners of the sail may be in the act of being drawnup.

In carrying out my invention, I provide the sail (which we will supposeto be the fore-course A) with a series of running-eyes, a a a, ar-

ranged at, or about at, equal distances apart, l

from the middle of the lower to that of the upper bolt-rope of it, andthrough such eyes I lead a rope or stay, b, having at its lower end ahook or traveler, c. 'Io the deck d of vthe hull B, or to the mast C, Iapply, athwart ships, a curved rod or rail, e, to which I hook orarrange the traveler so as to be capable of being slid lengthwise uponthe rail. The stay I leads through an eye, f, attached to the top g, orto the cross-tree h, as the ease may require, from whence (that is, theeye) the stay is to extend down to and be belayed to the belaying-railt'.

Instead of the curved rod or rail arranged and sipported at a short'distance above and parallel to the deck, a series of eyebolts, 7c 7c k,may be fixed in the deck at equal distances apart, and to range athwartships and in a curve, such being shown in the drawings as below themain-course and near and forward of the main-mast D. The foremast isshown at C, the foretop-mast at E, and the foretop-gal-V lantmast at Gr.In the drawing the top-sail is a double one, provided with the extrayard H, in which case the stay may run through eyes applied to bothportions of the sail.

In squaring the yards or moving them around, the stay or its travelerswill move on the rail, and with the sail, the stay and eyes serving togive support to the sail and prevent it from flapping, especiallyagainst the mast or the standing rigging, and, as a consequence,obviating the difficulties attendant on or due to such.

In order that the sail may be furled to advantage, I form it at itsupper part or down its middle with a slit, s, as shown in Fig. 2, andprovide the sails with a series of grommetholes or eyes, t t, to receiveone or more doublehooked hanks, K, formed in top view as shown in Fig.3, which represents one hank having` its eye u arranged between twohooks, c fv, and the eye provided with a turn-button, w, to close uponor against the points of both hooks. This construction of the hankenables it, while on lthe stay, to be readily separated from the sail orapplied to it, as occasion may require, the slit in the sail serving tofacilitate the operation of i'urling the sailat its head. The hooks ofthe hank hold the sail together at the slit and connect the hank withthe sail, the stay going through the eye of the hank.

I claim as my invention as follows, viz:

l. The combination of the stay b and the system of hanks or running-eyesa, arranged as described, with the square sail of a navigable vessel.

2. The combination of the stay b, the system of hanks or running-eyes a,the hook or trav' eler c, and the rail c, together and with the squaresail of a vessel, all being arranged substantially in manner and for thepurpose specied.

'3. The sail as provided with the slits and one or more double-hookedhanks, K, as described.

CHARLES FREEMAN.

Witnesses B.. H. EDDY, J. I. SNOW.

